July 2017 - LEND360

Most Americans have moved on from the financial shocks that struck our economy almost a decade ago. Millions of new jobs have been created, wages are rising and companies have repaired their balance sheets. Yet one unfortunate legacy of the 2008-10 meltdown remains: the tens of thousands of small businesses that still struggle to obtain a bank loan at reasonable cost, if at all.

ARLINGTON, VA (July 12, 2017) — LEND360 is pleased to announce the 4th Annual LEND360 Conference, which will be held on October 11-13 at the Fairmont Dallas Hotel in Dallas, Texas.

The Conference brings together the entire ecosystem of online lending, including consumer, small business and marketplace lenders, tech platforms, legal counsel, investors, marketing and advertising professionals, and more.

The debate over stacking—the practice of multiple lenders making loans to one borrower, often in a short period of time and without a full picture of the business’s ability to pay—and whether it should be allowed in the business lending space, has been ramping up for a few years now.

“Small businesses are the engine of the economy,” the saying goes. When you consider small businesses account for 99% of all firms according to the US Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, it’s hard to argue with that adage. So, if small businesses are the engine of the economy then capital is the fuel that runs those engines. Historically when an entrepreneur needed capital they put on their best suit and visited the local bank to apply for a loan. This tried and true method was the ritual for decades until 2008, when this country experienced its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.